A Note From The Editor

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Bullet points are not your friend. Carmine Gallo, a keynote speaker, communication coach and the author of TALK LIKE TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of The World's Top Minds (St. Martin's Press, March 2014), says to avoid using them when you're giving a presentation if at all possible.

Instead, he recommends taking a page out of astronaut Chris Hadfield's playbook. Hadfield gave a well-received talk at the 2014 TED Conference in Vancouver. His presentation consisted of 35 slides, and not one of them had words.

Gallo says he doesn't advocate you taking Hadfield's approach entirely to heart in a business setting, because text and charts are generally expected in a boardroom, but he says that "a visual/verbal balance" is key.